Where Liberalism Is Alive and Well!

The brazenness of many in the Republican Party in recent years has just been astounding. With everything in the damn world being video taped, whether by the media or that guy like me with an iPhone pointed at you, you would think that Republicans would be a little more careful with their lies. They seem to have an overconfidence, and they have a right to, since Fox News absolutely never calls out a single Republican for a lie. Never. And the rest of the media is not much better with the exception of the opinion shows at night on MSNBC, but they also waste a lot of their time attacking progressives and the president while Republicans continue to lie. I would imagine that the 4 opinion shows on MSNBC could spend all of their time exposing just lies of Republicans and they still wouldn’t be able to get to them all.

Greg Sargent at The Plum Line gives some details on the hearing above where finally, someone held Walker’s feet to the fire and made him admit the lie that fed the fight against collective bargaining rights for unions. From Greg…

The debate over whether Walker campaigned on that plan has been central to the Wisconsin battle since it began, and it remains significant now that the drive to recall Wisconsin Republicans is under way. Labor and Dems have argued that their reaction to Walker’s proposal — from the Dems’ fleeing of the state to the decision to initiate the recall drives — has been justified by the fact that Walker never leveled with voters about his truly radical intentions.

The claim that Walker campaigned on the proposal has also been central to Walker’s defense of himself throughout the whole fight, and has been widely repeated by many Republicans and conservatives defending the Governor.

And here was his lie, at least one version of it.

This is at odds with what Walker has said in the past. Asked in February whether his move to limit union power was payback, Walker replied: “It’s not a tit for tat. The simple matter is I campaigned on this all throughout the election.”

Recall that bastard, send him packing, fire all the friends he’s put into cushy jobs and shun him forever in American politics. I’m sure that’s going to happen.

The Koch Brothers, David and Charles, who are doing there best to influence American politics are whining about all those mean people who are protesting and saying bad things about them. Of course it’s just fine for them to give $54 million dollars to climate change denial advocates to spread propaganda, but if you exercise your free speech, you’re just being a meany. They own many industries that pollute, you know? They apparently gave unprecedented access for an interview with The Weakly Standard (sp). Here is some of the whining and lying…

“One additional thing that really bothered me,” he said, “was that the press attacked me rather than the guy who impersonated me! And I was criticized as someone who’s got a death grip on the governor and his policies. And that I control him—I mean, that’s insane!”

Awe, let’s all give him a collective sigh. Poor, poor, mega-wealthy man. I’m sure he can afford the counseling he’s going to need after being criticized by those mean old liberals. Now for the lies…

That last part has caught the attention of the left’s scouring eye. For unlike many billionaires, the Koch brothers espouse classical liberal economics: They advocate lower taxes, less government spending, fewer regulations, and limited government. “Society as a whole benefits from greater economic freedom,” Charles wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed. Judging by the results of the 2010 elections, there are millions of Americans who agree with him.

Ah, yea, well….we tried that little experiment starting in 2001 when the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush and he gave you all those huge tax cuts, slashed regulations and staffed the government with lobbyists intent on destroying whatever agency they were meant to oversee. And they put it on the charge card too. How did that work out for America and “society as a whole”? We entered a deep recession that our current president, someone who is 100 times smarter than the Koch Bros, had to pull us out of with no help whatsoever from Republicans. In fact, as we all know, they did everything they could to stop President Obama from getting us out of that mess.

Let’s take a look at one of Rachel Maddow’s excellent pieces about the Koch Bros…

The Koch Brothers have been financing a propaganda campaign for decades and have used all sorts of slimy, hateful, lying tactics…to the tune of many millions of dollars. But when a blogger pranks a wingnut governor and exposes the coziness with which politicians treat these guys, he all of a sudden becomes a righteous, moral person who feels like he can say things like this about the Buffalo blogger who impersonated him…

“And I think it’s extremely dishonest to misrepresent yourself. I think there’s a question of integrity. And the person who would do that has got to be an incredibly dishonest person.”

Give me a freakin break. The guy who helped finance the “grassroots” uprising during the health care debate, remember all the lies spread during that charade. Or how about the fact that they have been financing the anti-climate change groups who are also spreading lies and misinformation which has had the effect of turning the Republican party into a party of climate change deniers. What do scientists know anyway? Should David Koch be saying anything at all about someone else being dishonest? Have you ever seen such hubris?

I love this story and hope more of it happens. I want to see a resurgence of unions, we need them now more than ever.

Wisconsin’s workers haven’t only fought back with protests and recall efforts. Since Scott Walker began his attack on Wisconsin’s public employees, faculty at three University of Wisconsin campuses have voted to join the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

I’m not even being hyperbolic here, either. They really aren’t trying to hide it very much either, it’s all right out in the open. And apparently they’ve brainwashed their followers enough that they don’t even know what is happening to them. One day they will wake up screaming when they realize that they screwed themselves by supporting those assholes….or not. Democracy Now has a great interview with Naomi Klein, you may have seen her in a Rachel Maddow clip I posted the other day. I think I’m going to have to buy her book “The Shock Doctrine” and give it a read. From her interview with Democracy Now on my great state of Michigan…(emphasis is mine)

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask you about Michigan.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: And then we’re going to go to a break.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: About a thousand people rallied in Michigan—

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN:—reminiscent of Wisconsin. Talk about the proposal there.

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I just found out about this last night, and like I said, there’s so much going on that these extraordinary measures are just getting lost in the shuffle. But in Michigan, there is a bill that’s already passed the House. It’s on the verge of passing the Senate. And I’ll just read you some excerpts from it. It says that in the case of an economic crisis, that the governor has the authority to authorize the emergency manager—this is somebody who would be appointed—to reject, modify or terminate the terms of an existing contract or collective bargaining agreement, authorize the emergency manager for a municipal government—OK, so we’re not—we’re talking about towns, municipalities across the state—to disincorporate. So, an appointed official with the ability to dissolve an elected body, when they want to.

AMY GOODMAN: A municipal government.

NAOMI KLEIN: A municipal government. And it says specifically, “or dissolve the municipal government.” So we’ve seen this happening with school boards, saying, “OK, this is a failing school board. We’re taking over. We’re dissolving it. We’re canceling the contracts.” You know, what this reminds me of is New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when the teachers were fired en masse and then it became a laboratory for charter schools. You know, people in New Orleans—and you know this, Amy—warned us. They said, “What’s happening to us is going to happen to you.” And I included in the book a quote saying, “Every city has their Lower Ninth Ward.” And what we’re seeing with the pretext of the flood is going to be used with the pretext of an economic crisis. And this is precisely what’s happening. So it starts with the school boards, and then it’s whole towns, whole cities, that could be subject to just being dissolved because there’s an economic crisis breaking collective bargaining agreements. It also specifies that—this bill specifies that an emergency manager can be an individual or a firm. Or a firm. So, the person who would be put in charge of this so-called failing town or municipality could actually be a corporation.

AMY GOODMAN: Whose government they dissolve, a company takes over.

NAOMI KLEIN: A company takes over. So, they have created, if this passes, the possibility for privatization of a whole town by fiat. And this is actually a trend in the contracting out of public services, where you do now have whole towns, like Sandy Springs in Georgia, run by private companies. It’s very lucrative. Why not? You start with just the water contract or the electricity contract, but eventually, why not privatize the whole town? So—

AMY GOODMAN: And what happens then? Where does democracy fit into that picture?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, this is an assault on democracy. It’s a frontal assault on democracy. It’s a kind of a corporate coup d’état at the municipal level.

We are fired up in Michigan and we won’t let it stand. Many protests are being planned with even the AARP planning one here in Michigan because of the raw deal seniors got in Governor Rick Snyder’s budget. Wisconsin has gotten most of the attention in the last couple of months, but the awesome Rachel Maddow and her staff are doing great work in exposing what is going on in Michigan and other states as well. My hope is that this Republican overreach all across the country will knock some sense into Democrats and Independents and we will sweep those assholes back out in 2012 and 2014.

The first thing I want to say about what happened in Wisconsin last night is to all those firebaggers, Jane Hamsher, Cenk Uygur, Taylor Marsh, Glenn Greenwald, Arianna Huffington and the rest of the haters who encouraged democrats to stay home last November….FUCK YOU, YOU STUPID “CLICK-GRUBBING” ASSHOLES!

The next thing I want to say is to Scott Walker and the Republicans in Wisconsin…THANK YOU, for firing up Democrats and reminding them why elections matter. After winning the presidency and controlling both houses in 2008, Democratic voters got complacent, thought that their job was over and with the help of the above mentioned firebaggers, started carping and nitpicking what the newly empowered Democratic politicians were doing…not helping or prodding or encouraging…no, they started criticizing, nitpicking, being IMPATIENT and undermining the only party that ever stands up for people. DUMB FUCKS! The result of that carping was to help the Republicans and their media strategy. Instead of having democratic pundits on cable news helping to promote progressive ideas, they did just the opposite. It was a virtual “pig-pile” on the president with supposed progressives polluting my television with their petty squabbles over details while the Republicans steamrolled their warped narrative into the public sphere.

And what did we get for it, an off-year election that swept a bunch of wingnuts into office who are now exacting their evil on the citizens. Elections matter!

Now let’s look at what happened last night in Wisconsin, it is pretty wild…if you don’t see your democracy crumbling before your eyes, you need glasses, seriously.

I”m tempted to jump in my car and head over to Wisconsin to help in the fight. This will be a wake up call to all good Democrats and Independents who value our democracy. I think the Republicans will look back on last nights events with profound regret. You are going down!

I know this is all over the internet, but I felt I must post it as well. It sure is nice to have an adult as President of the United States. It’s just too bad almost everyone else in our federal government acts like adolescents.

And if you haven’t seen this awesome sound bite from Wally Pfister, the Oscar winning cinematographer for the film Inception, go watch it now. Sorry I can’t find the Youtube clip and there is a commercial that leads into this clip.

I just read this article over at Forbes about the big freakin lie that Governor Scott Walker and the “librul” media, cough, spit, choke have been pushing. It has even inspired commercials and campaigns all based on that lie. Here are some details from Rick Ungar at Forbes, with help from tax.com…

Pulitzer Prize winning tax reporter, David Cay Johnston, has written a brilliant piece for tax.com exposing the truth about who really pays for the pension and benefits for public employees in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker says he wants state workers covered by collective bargaining agreements to “contribute more” to their pension and health insurance plans. Accepting Gov. Walker’ s assertions as fact, and failing to check, creates the impression that somehow the workers are getting something extra, a gift from taxpayers. They are not. Out of every dollar that funds Wisconsin’ s pension and health insurance plans for state workers, 100 cents comes from the state workers.

Got that, all the bullshit about “contributing more” to their pensions is a big lie. They already contribute 100% to their own pensions, taxpayers have nothing to do with it. Now as Rick Ungar put in his piece, if you want to call it a pay cut, go ahead, but misleading the public into thinking that taxpayers are paying for the workers pensions has to stop. The lie has been exposed and Bob Cesca said it best at his Awesome Blog! Go!…

Must see video. Spread this around, this is important. I even agree with him that President Obama needs to do more to help stem the tide that is sweeping across the country. I have confidence that the president will respond more, he just doesn’t do the knee-jerk thing. Watch and share with your friends…

I’m waiting for the pictures of Scottie and his Wackenhut buddies who like to have parties like the ones shown below. In case you missed this story, Governor Walker, when he was Milwaukee County Executive fired the unionized security at the county courthouse and hired this British company. No shit, he didn’t even hire a company from his own state or country. A little background from Think Progress…

The last time Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went after public sector unions it had “disastrous results” for him and for taxpayers. As Milwaukee County Executive in 2009, Walker tried to get rid of the unionized security guards at the county courthouse and replace them with contractors, which he promised would save the county money. The County Board rejected the idea, but in March of 2010 Walker “unilaterally ordered it,” claiming there was a budget emergency. Walker hired the British security contractor Wackenhut — of Kabul Embassy sex scandal fame — to replace the guards. Unfortunately for Walker and Milwaukee taxpayers, an arbiter later ruled that Walker had overstepped his authority, and ordered the county to reinstate the unionized workers, pay backwages, and pay tens of thousands of dollars in arbiter fees.

Wackenhut came into the American public view in a rather controversial way, wouldn’t you say. They were the contractors in Afghanistan who like to party like frat boys and rugby players, apparently. The photos really say it all, don’t they.

Party animals, those Wackenhut employees. Woooo hoooo, let’s go party with Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Someone has to have photos of Scott with his British buddies, come on people, haven’t you ever heard of Photoshop?

Unbelievable!!! Now if that doesn’t speak volumes about this nut in Wisconsin, I don’t know what does. I’m almost speechless, I can’t even believe it. From Raw Story…

he Democratic Party of Wisconsin spoke out forcefully Tuesday after it was discovered that the state Capitol had blocked a website that was attempting to organize those protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to strip unions of their rights.Anyone trying to use the state Capitol’s Wi-Fi connection to access www.defendwisconsin.org Monday and early Tuesday received an error message.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Teacher Assistants created the website to share information with protesters and let them know where volunteers were needed. Democratic party officials claimed that it was available at the Capitol until at least last Friday.

“In a direct assault on the First Amendment, Scott Walker’s administration is blocking access in the Wisconsin Capitol to opposition websites,” Wisconsin Democratic Party press secretary Graeme Zielinski told CNN.

“It seems that we are entering a nightmare period in Wisconsin history in which Scott Walker is drawing all power unto himself, to the point that he feels comfortable blocking the First Amendment rights of protesters at the exact time they are exercising their First Amendment rights,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Michael Tate said in recorded audio message.

And now he wants the government workers to pay for it. Nothing like a little wealth redistribution the wrong way. Rich get richer, poor get shit on. This has to be the most blatant case of Republicans helping the rich and screwing the poor that we’ve ever seen. When anyone tries to say that these cuts to government workers are crucial to balancing the budget, respond by saying….well then, let’s repeal those tax cuts that got us into this mess. Gov. Walker is like a “mini-Bush”….cut taxes for the multi-millionaires and then stick the debt with working class folks.

He was handed a balanced budget when he took office, a balanced budget. So the only one to blame for this mess is the person looking back at him in the mirror. Don’t believe the Republican and media lie machine. Talking Points Memo has more…

Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state’s fiscal bureau — the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office — concluded that Wisconsin isn’t even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office.

“Walker was not forced into a budget repair bill by circumstances beyond he control,” says Jack Norman, research director at the Institute for Wisconsin Future — a public interest think tank. “He wanted a budget repair bill and forced it by pushing through tax cuts… so he could rush through these other changes.”

He is a sleazy bastard. Of course, he IS a Republican. There aren’t many left who aren’t sleazy, selfish bastards.

Who The Hell Am I!

I’m a liberal that is extreme in some ways and not in others. I support President Obama and make no apologies for it. I think he has done a phenomenal job, especially when you consider that he inherited a huge mess and has faced unprecedented opposition from a lazy & desperate Republican Party. I’m a film producer/director/editor, adjunct professor, technician, media critic and photographer when I’m not reading left wing blogs and typing on this one. – On Twitter @ExtremeLiberal or Email at liberalforreal (at) gmail.com

Own An Important Part Of American History!

Cicely Tyson narrates this award winning documentary that tells the story of African American migration from the old south to the prosperous north. Winner of 5 Awards including "Best Film" at the Astoria International Film Festival, the "Paul Robeson Award" at the Newark Black Film Festival and "Best Film Relating To The Black Experience" at the XXV International Black Cinema Berlin/Germany!